#commonfears

by Melany Miller

Credit: https://www.facebook.com/AZHDubai/photos/acrophobia-is-an-extreme-or-irrational-fear-or-phobia-of-heights-acrophobia-is-o/1236859913127486/

The most common fears for humans across the globe to have are fear of heights, fear of insects, fear of flying, fear of snakes, fear of needles and the fear of storms. (Horn) What makes these fears so common around the globe? Many people believe that our primal instincts have a lot to do with our common fears. We may be afraid of heights and snakes due to our far off ancestors knowing these things could play a role in their death. If they weren't cautious they could fall off a cliff to their death, or stumble upon a snake, get bit and die as they didn't have the luxury of hospitals and antivenom to their disposal.

For those of who fear flying, in 2016 a total of 40 million commercial passenger flights landed safely, only ten ended in fatalities. (Rosling 112) So what makes the fear of flying so scary when data shows that it's quite safe? The fear instinct works wonders and makes us fear things that aren't proven to be dangerous consistently, it's just something that can be dangerous in the right situations. Just because you have a fear, doesn't mean every time you're around that fear that you're in absolute danger. The graph below shows that there were only 47 people killed in commercial flights in 2017. As you can see, that's significantly less than the years prior.

Credit: https://www.statista.com/chart/3335/people-killed-in-commercial-plane-crashes-since-1942/

Most Common Fears By Demographics

Common fears can change by age groups. As a baby you're not aware of flying or spiders, so they may not be your common fear. A lot of younger children under preschool age have a fear of strangers, being alone, people in costumes or even loud noises. (Young) This is because these things happen to frighten them as it's some new or scary to them. While children ages 7-11 years old have a fear of monsters, ghosts, a shadow on the wall at night time or being home alone. It really shows the differences that ages make when you think of common fears. A broad range of common fears affect those in teenage years to late adulthood years. However, a whole new set of common fears affect those of younger ages. While the fear instinct is a natural and common thing to have for all human beings, their fears can differ based on their age group and what type of situations they're in during their lifetime.

Speaking of different situations, people who live on a Level 4 lifestyle based on the Factfulness book, may have different common fears than those of who live on a Level 1 lifestyle. Level 4 people most likely do not fear invasion of their homes by militia or getting malaria, or even where they'll come up with money for their weekly food allotment. However, these can be common fears for the people living on Level 1. While Level 1 may have a true and real fear of snakes as snakes surround their home and wildlife on the 4 mile walk it takes to fetch their water supply, this fear can also be common in Level 4 people to fear snakes. However, Level 4 people are less likely to come into contact with a snake in their lifetime where as a Level 1 person might see snakes daily.

Sources

Horn, Allyson. “Phobias: The Ten Most Common Fears People Hold.” ABC News Australia, 01 May 2015, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-01/ten-of-the-most-common-phobias/6439210.

Rosling, Hans, et al. “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong Above The World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think.” Flatiron Publishers, New York, 2018, pp. 101-123